


Cultural Fusion

by Caelum_Blue



Series: Caelum's Canonverse [16]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Air Temple Island, Family, Family Dinners, Gen, Humor, Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pre-Avatar: Legend of Korra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-10 23:03:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12309711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caelum_Blue/pseuds/Caelum_Blue
Summary: Written for Aang Week 2017. Prompt - Free Day.Bumi and Kya have decided to combine their cultural heritages in the kitchen, and Aang is horrified at the results.





	Cultural Fusion

**Author's Note:**

> Written Day 8 of Aang Week. Prompt: Free Day.
> 
> It's the last day of Aang Week! This has been a blast and I really enjoyed it. :D
> 
> Ages in this fic - I'm not quite settled on them, but I THINK it's something like this:  
> Tenzin - 14  
> Kya - 17  
> Bumi - 23  
> Lin - 13  
> Suyin - 7

Sokka leaned over the saddle as Appa began his descent towards Air Temple Island. “So what kind of plant-based dish can I expect for dinner?” he asked Aang, who was seated on Appa’s head. “Noodles? Soup?”

“The Acolytes were talking about curry,” Aang answered. 

Sokka’s eyes lit up.  _ “Please _ tell me it’s Xing Ying’s turn in the kitchen. She’s the  _ best _ at spices.”

“It’s her Fire Nation side,” Aang laughed. “And yeah, it is.”

Sokka grinned. “Fantastic! What’s for dessert?”

Aang’s smile faltered. “I have...no idea.” He looked worried as Appa approached the landing point.

Sokka looked from Aang to Tenzin, who sat beside him in the saddle.

“It’s a surprise,” Tenzin explained. “Bumi and Kya are making it.”

“Oh!” said Sokka. “Alright then. I’m sure it’ll be great, whatever it is. Aang why does your face look like that?”

“I’m not sure that I trust Bumi and Kya in the kitchen.”

“What? Why not?”

“They think that stewed sea prunes are the pinnacle of Southern Water Tribe cuisine,” Aang said as Appa made his landing, sending puffs of air and dust billowing through the courtyard. He slid off of Appa’s head and patted the bison’s cheek. “I wish I could believe they only do it to mess with me, but...no. They actually like sea prunes.”

Sokka snorted as he slid off of Appa, Tenzin gliding down behind him. “Aang, I know your hatred for sea prunes is legendary, but I swear it really is an acquired taste. Bumi and Kya seem to have acquired it.”

_ “I _ never acquired it!” Aang said, airbending the saddle off of Appa and setting it to the side.

“I like sea prunes,” Tenzin said.

Aang put his face in his hands. “All my children have betrayed me.”

Sokka laughed and slung an arm around Aang’s shoulders. “Come on, whatever Kya and Bumi have cooked up, I’m sure it’s not that bad. Right Kya?” he added.

Aang looked up to see his daughter had run into the courtyard, wearing a wide, mischievous grin. “Well,  _ I _ think it’s good. Tenzin!” she said, grabbing her startled brother’s arm. “We need your help in the kitchen! Dessert’s almost ready but we need you to add the finishing touch!”

“Why do you need  _ me?” _ Tenzin yelped as Kya dragged him off toward the kitchen.

“Because the secret is in the gooey center!”

“There, see?” Sokka said, watching the kids run off. “Clearly it’s just some sort of fruit pie. Nothing to worry about.”

“I guess,” Aang hedged, because the look on Kya’s face had reminded him  _ far _ too much of the look Sokka got when a plan was going well. He gave Appa another pat before the bison shuffled off towards the stables, and then he and Sokka made their way to the family’s dining room.

Katara was already there, drinking tea made by Suki and reading a letter written on red-bordered stationery out loud for Toph’s benefit. “...won’t be able to leave the Fire Nation anytime soon, but you’re all invited to Ember Island this summer…”

“How was the Council?” Suki asked as Aang and Sokka took their seats, immediately pouring out two more cups of tea.

“Uneventful,” Sokka answered, slurping down the tea.

“Is that from Zuko?” Aang asked, sitting down beside Katara and dropping a quick kiss on her cheek.

“Mai, actually,” Katara said. “Zuko didn’t have time to write and she was bored.”

“Sounds accurate,” Aang laughed. “How are they?”

“Nothing new to report, really,” Toph shrugged. “Izumi’s doing well at the Academy, but she wants to study abroad. I say we bring her here. Between her, Lin, and Kya, we could get a nice pro-bending team going.”

“Tempting,” Sokka hummed.

“Might I remind you that we’re all notable leaders and public figures and shouldn’t go scam-gambling on sports?” Katara asked dryly.

“Scambling!” Sokka and Toph shouted, grinning.

“Dinner’s ready!” Bumi announced, entering the dining room with a massive bowl of curry. Lin and Tenzin came behind him with the side dishes, and then Kya and Suyin with a beautiful fruit pie that was set off on a side table. Aang eyed it warily, but nothing seemed amiss - the purple, gooey center was perfectly aerated and swirled just as Aang had taught Tenzin to do it, and it looked like a perfectly ordinary fruit pie.

Dinner was a happy affair. Sokka happily chowed down on the curry while Katara ran over the updates Mai had written them about. Bumi managed to tell exactly one outlandish-but-probably-perfectly-accurate story about a recent training trip in the United Forces before Kya snorted and splashed him with water from his own cup. Tenzin and Lin had a perfectly civil conversation when Lin wasn’t snapping at Suyin to stop showing off her metalbending by warping her dinner knife. Toph and Suki brought up the invitation Mai had extended to them to visit Ember Island.

“I think we should try to convince the Ember Island Players to put on another showing of The Boy in the Iceberg,” Toph said. “Zuko’s the Firelord, I’m sure he could make it happen.”

“Zuko’s the Firelord, I’m sure they’d be terrified to portray him in that play ever again,” Suki countered with a grin. “But maybe it could happen…”

“I really prefer that play when it’s forgotten,” Katara said dryly.

“Aw, but Sweetness, the kids have never seen it! Would you really deprive them of this important piece of family history?”

_ “Yes.” _

“Okay, but speaking of family history,” Bumi said, standing up. “Who’s ready for dessert?” He brought the pie over to the table.

“Me me me me me!” Suyin shouted, bouncing up and down in her seat.

“Su, calm down,” Lin ordered, scowling.

“What did you kids make for us?” Toph asked, slinging an arm around her youngest. Suyin fell silent, but she kept bouncing.

“It’s a labor of love,” Bumi said, “and also experimentation. Kya and I had a  _ lot _ of fun trying to get the flavor balance right.”

“Special thanks to Tenzin for aerating the gooey center!” Kya added, picking up a knife. She paused and frowned at the twisted metal. “I need a knife Su hasn’t been at.”

_ “Su!” _ Lin groaned as her little sister laughed. 

“Gimme,” Toph ordered, holding out a hand. A quick twist and the knife was straight again. “Now quit making me wait and slice that pie up!”

“You got it, Chief,” Kya said, cutting the pie into even slices that Bumi distributed to everyone else.

Aang stared at his plate suspiciously before spooning a bit of the pie into his mouth. The pastry portion was okay, but the filling - oh,  _ no. _ “This pie tastes like the ocean,” Aang said, horrified.  _ “Please _ don’t tell me there’s sea prunes in this.”

“Okay,” Bumi grinned, “I won’t tell you there’s sea prunes in this.”

_ “Oh my spirits.” _

“Not bad!” Sokka said. Katara looked like she was enjoying it, as well. So did Toph, who didn’t mind sea prunes, but Lin was staring at her plate in consternation. Suyin had gone the route of just eating the pastry while leaving the filling untouched.

“We thought we’d combine the two sides of our heritage into one delicious dessert,” Bumi said. “What do you think, Dad?” He was still grinning. So was Kya.

“You are horrible children,” Aang said, staring miserably at his pie. “Horrible. Why would you put sea prunes in a pie? Why?”

“To see the look on your face,” Kya snickered. “Your  _ face, _ Dad! I wish I had a camera!”

“Me too,” Aang sighed. “I need to document this as the moment my children betrayed my trust. At least I still have Tenzin.”

“It’s actually pretty good,” Tenzin said, having another bite of sea prune pie.

Aang gave his youngest a disappointed look. “Abandoned and betrayed by all my children. I can’t believe this.”

“You’re being melodramatic,” Katara snorted, and she pointed at the pie on his plate. “Are you gonna eat that?”

“All yours,” Aang said, handing his plate over.

“This is actually pretty ingenious,” Sokka said, scraping sea prune goop off his plate.

“Eh,” said Suki, “I’m actually with Aang on this. Sea prunes are okay for dinner, but they shouldn’t be in a dessert.”

_ “Thank you _ Suki, you’re the best sister-in-law ever.”

“Well for all of you who can’t recognize culinary genius when you taste it, don’t worry, we have a kumquat fruit pie as well,” Bumi said.

Aang gave his son a dull look. “Are they ocean kumquats? They’d better not be ocean kumquats.”

Bumi just grinned back. “You’ll have to eat it to find out!”

**Author's Note:**

> Annnnnnd that's all for Aang Week! It was really so much fun to participate in this. If you enjoyed, comments and kudos are always appreciated. ^_^
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [caelum-in-the-avatarverse](https://caelum-in-the-avatarverse.tumblr.com/).
> 
> This was fun but fair warning, I've been writing all week and I'm kinda tired out now. I think I wanna update Weather's Frightful But Fire's Delightful next, but idk when I'm gonna manage that. Hopefully soonish. :P


End file.
